Supercharger - Tooele, UT

[Larry]

What would be the route to Green River? 260 miles via 6, can't make that in my 85. I guess to Nephi to G River to Grand Junction. Not too far out of the way.

 

[Cottonwood]

What would be the route to Green River? 260 miles via 6, can't make that in my 85. I guess to Nephi to G River to Grand Junction. Not too far out of the way.

Nephi to Green River is a little long at 161 miles, but very doable in reasonable weather with a 80-90% charge. It is a beautiful drive! There are some very considerable ups and downs, so make sure regen is in normal and use it instead of brakes on the big down hills to control speed. In all but the worst blizzards, it should be doable with a 95-98% charge and some prudence. At least you won't be tempted by those 80 mph speed limits on I-15 south of Nephi. :biggrin:

 

[snellenr]

Nephi to Green River is a little long at 161 miles, but very doable in reasonable weather with a 80-90% charge. It is a beautiful drive! There are some very considerable ups and downs, so make sure regen is in normal and use it instead of brakes on the big down hills to control speed. In all but the worst blizzards, it should be doable with a 95-98% charge and some prudence. At least you won't be tempted by those 80 mph speed limits on I-15 south of Nephi. :biggrin:

Going Nephi to Richfield (71 miles) and then Richfield to Green River (123 miles) would add just 32 Interstate miles to the overall leg. If Tesla's willing to provide the electricity for free, it would be rude of me not to accept, right?

 

[Denarius]

Nephi to Green River is a little long at 161 miles, but very doable in reasonable weather with a 80-90% charge. It is a beautiful drive! There are some very considerable ups and downs, so make sure regen is in normal and use it instead of brakes on the big down hills to control speed. In all but the worst blizzards, it should be doable with a 95-98% charge and some prudence. At least you won't be tempted by those 80 mph speed limits on I-15 south of Nephi. :biggrin:

In my P85+ I drove from Lehi Utah to Moab Utah via I-15, 6, and I-70 on a single charge in 15° weather. I can't imagine Green River to Nephi would be a problem.

It's 179ish miles from Green River to the service center in SLC. Once that supercharger comes online you may be able to completely bypass Richfield and Nephi.

 

[Larry]

That's what I'm looking at. Should be able to go SLC to Green River via 6. Any idea when SLC supercharger will be finished? Looking at end of April for Bay Area to Grand Junction

 

[Denarius]

That's what I'm looking at. Should be able to go SLC to Green River via 6. Any idea when SLC supercharger will be finished? Looking at end of April for Bay Area to Grand Junction

A little bird told me March 6th.

 

[GRA]

Are there any rumors of an SC in the Price/Helper area on U.S. 191, or else an SC in Spanish Fork at the I-15/U.S. 6 junction? And why on _earth_ did they put the SC in Richfield instead of Salina? I've done the U.S. 50/I-15/U.S. 89/I-70 jog a few times, and can't see any good reason for Richfield over Salina. You can get to Beaver from either.

 

[Larry]

A little bird told me March 6th.

That would be sweet.

 

[cpa]

Are there any rumors of an SC in the Price/Helper area on U.S. 191, or else an SC in Spanish Fork at the I-15/U.S. 6 junction? And why on _earth_ did they put the SC in Richfield instead of Salina? I've done the U.S. 50/I-15/U.S. 89/I-70 jog a few times, and can't see any good reason for Richfield over Salina. You can get to Beaver from either.

Guy, I cannot speak for Tesla, but perhaps Tesla has developed a sort of master plan for Supercharger placement across the US that was not on the drawing board two years ago. The nature of the rollout is sequential and not immediate. One location may not pan out for various reasons, so another has to take its place (like the hassles going on with Plantation, Florida.) We also have come to realize that Tesla is starting slowly to fill in some larger gaps in the west--Primm, Needles and Mojave come to mind. We know that Salt Lake City will be getting a Supercharger in the coming months.

My take on this placement, and rest assured I could be flat wrong, is that St. George to Richfield is about 180 miles plus elevation gain. Certainly doable in an 85 in good weather if one monitors his speed on the ascent to Cedar City, making a stop in Beaver optional if one leaves St. George with close to a range charge. And the western/southern return route would be easy with the descent into St. George. Salina is about 35-40 miles (guessing) from Richfield, thereby requiring a stop in Beaver traveling in either direction. The I-15--I70--I25 onto I90 was the first cross-country route that Tesla contemplated way back when to enable "free" coast-to-coast travel. Perhaps back then Tesla's goal was to complete this route as quickly as possible and Richfield offered a faster build and cheaper rent because that location is at a motel just off I15.

It would not surprise me in the least that in the second build-out of Superchargers after the initial installations are complete that we may see selected communities like Ely and Delta to enable some of your US50 route, with HPWC in places like Austin and Eureka for augmenting US50 should one decide to enjoy crossing the Great Basin on The Loneliest Road in America.

Cheers!

 

[GRA]

Guy, I cannot speak for Tesla, but perhaps Tesla has developed a sort of master plan for Supercharger placement across the US that was not on the drawing board two years ago. The nature of the rollout is sequential and not immediate. One location may not pan out for various reasons, so another has to take its place (like the hassles going on with Plantation, Florida.) We also have come to realize that Tesla is starting slowly to fill in some larger gaps in the west--Primm, Needles and Mojave come to mind. We know that Salt Lake City will be getting a Supercharger in the coming months.

My take on this placement, and rest assured I could be flat wrong, is that St. George to Richfield is about 180 miles plus elevation gain. Certainly doable in an 85 in good weather if one monitors his speed on the ascent to Cedar City, making a stop in Beaver optional if one leaves St. George with close to a range charge. And the western/southern return route would be easy with the descent into St. George. Salina is about 35-40 miles (guessing) from Richfield, thereby requiring a stop in Beaver traveling in either direction. The I-15--I70--I25 onto I90 was the first cross-country route that Tesla contemplated way back when to enable "free" coast-to-coast travel. Perhaps back then Tesla's goal was to complete this route as quickly as possible and Richfield offered a faster build and cheaper rent because that location is at a motel just off I15.

It would not surprise me in the least that in the second build-out of Superchargers after the initial installations are complete that we may see selected communities like Ely and Delta to enable some of your US50 route, with HPWC in places like Austin and Eureka for augmenting US50 should one decide to enjoy crossing the Great Basin on The Loneliest Road in America.

Cheers!

cpa, thanks for the reply. BTW, Richfield is only 19.5 miles from Salina, so your guess was a bit high. I understand the desire to get the routes built quickly, but sometimes the long-term logic just escapes me, as bad placement (away from obvious junctions) just means that they'll have to build two or more closely-placed SCs eventually instead of one. Superior, MT is an example of this for eastbound traffic on I-90 traveling to Glacier NP; it's 14 miles past the turnoff at St. Regis, adding 28 miles and a bit under a half hour delay to the trip - westbound I-90 traffic will turn off at Missoula, so that's not an issue. I know they said they had capacity issues at St. Regis that would cause problems, but if that was the case, did they look at any of the small towns WEST of St. Regis before settling on Superior? Richfield compared to Salina makes for similar inconvenience (adding up to 39 miles roundtrip) - it's 184 miles from St. George to Salina, 222 RM uphill and 190 downhill in an S60 under ideal conditions, so most people will probably stop for a short charge in Beaver regardless. An 85 can make it downhill fairly easily, and uphill too with a bit of care.

An SC in Salina serves people going to/from north, south, east or west, while Richfield only conveniently serves people coming from the south going east or vice versa. Nephi/Beaver have similar problems (Beaver not so much, but a lot of people were expecting Cove Fort instead). Compare those locations to say Green River, which is well located for an offset intersection (they could have instead put a single SC at Crescent Junction and done without Green River and Moab, but Moab serves as a gateway SC to a national park, and I'm all in favor of them).

Not meaning to rag on you, 'cause I know it's not up to you, but sometimes I just have to shake my head.

- - - Updated - - -

Guy, I cannot speak for Tesla, but perhaps Tesla has developed a sort of master plan for Supercharger placement across the US that was not on the drawing board two years ago. The nature of the rollout is sequential and not immediate. One location may not pan out for various reasons, so another has to take its place (like the hassles going on with Plantation, Florida.) We also have come to realize that Tesla is starting slowly to fill in some larger gaps in the west--Primm, Needles and Mojave come to mind. We know that Salt Lake City will be getting a Supercharger in the coming months.

My take on this placement, and rest assured I could be flat wrong, is that St. George to Richfield is about 180 miles plus elevation gain. Certainly doable in an 85 in good weather if one monitors his speed on the ascent to Cedar City, making a stop in Beaver optional if one leaves St. George with close to a range charge. And the western/southern return route would be easy with the descent into St. George. Salina is about 35-40 miles (guessing) from Richfield, thereby requiring a stop in Beaver traveling in either direction. The I-15--I70--I25 onto I90 was the first cross-country route that Tesla contemplated way back when to enable "free" coast-to-coast travel. Perhaps back then Tesla's goal was to complete this route as quickly as possible and Richfield offered a faster build and cheaper rent because that location is at a motel just off I15.

It would not surprise me in the least that in the second build-out of Superchargers after the initial installations are complete that we may see selected communities like Ely and Delta to enable some of your US50 route, with HPWC in places like Austin and Eureka for augmenting US50 should one decide to enjoy crossing the Great Basin on The Loneliest Road in America.

Cheers!

cpa, thanks for the reply. BTW, Richfield is only 19.5 miles from Salina, so your guess was a bit high. I understand the desire to get the routes built quickly, but sometimes the long-term logic just escapes me, as bad placement (away from obvious junctions) just means that they'll have to build two or more closely-placed SCs eventually instead of one. Superior, MT is an example of this for eastbound traffic on I-90 traveling to Glacier NP; it's 14 miles past the turnoff at St. Regis, adding 28 miles and a bit under a half hour delay to the trip - westbound I-90 traffic will turn off at Missoula, so that's not an issue. I know they said they had capacity issues at St. Regis that would cause problems, but if that was the case, did they look at any of the small towns WEST of St. Regis before settling on Superior? Richfield compared to Salina makes for similar inconvenience (adding up to 39 miles roundtrip) - it's 184 miles from St. George to Salina, 222 RM uphill and 190 downhill in an S60 under ideal conditions, so most people will probably stop for a short charge in Beaver regardless. An 85 can make it downhill fairly easily, and uphill too with a bit of care.

An SC in Salina serves people going to/from north, south, east or west, while Richfield only conveniently serves people coming from the south going east or vice versa. Nephi/Beaver have similar problems (Beaver not so much, but a lot of people were expecting Cove Fort instead). Compare those locations to say Green River, which is well located for an offset intersection (they could have instead put a single SC at Crescent Junction and done without Green River and Moab, but Moab serves as a gateway SC to a national park, and I'm all in favor of them).

Not meaning to rag on you, 'cause I know it's not up to you, but sometimes I just have to shake my head.

 

[cpa]

cpa, thanks for the reply. BTW, Richfield is only 19.5 miles from Salina, so your guess was a bit high. I understand the desire to get the routes built quickly, but sometimes the long-term logic just escapes me, as bad placement (away from obvious junctions) just means that they'll have to build two or more closely-placed SCs eventually instead of one. Superior, MT is an example of this for eastbound traffic on I-90 traveling to Glacier NP; it's 14 miles past the turnoff at St. Regis, adding 28 miles and a bit under a half hour delay to the trip - westbound I-90 traffic will turn off at Missoula, so that's not an issue. I know they said they had capacity issues at St. Regis that would cause problems, but if that was the case, did they look at any of the small towns WEST of St. Regis before settling on Superior? Richfield compared to Salina makes for similar inconvenience (adding up to 39 miles roundtrip) - it's 184 miles from St. George to Salina, 222 RM uphill and 190 downhill in an S60 under ideal conditions, so most people will probably stop for a short charge in Beaver regardless. An 85 can make it downhill fairly easily, and uphill too with a bit of care.

An SC in Salina serves people going to/from north, south, east or west, while Richfield only conveniently serves people coming from the south going east or vice versa. Nephi/Beaver have similar problems (Beaver not so much, but a lot of people were expecting Cove Fort instead). Compare those locations to say Green River, which is well located for an offset intersection (they could have instead put a single SC at Crescent Junction and done without Green River and Moab, but Moab serves as a gateway SC to a national park, and I'm all in favor of them).

Not meaning to rag on you, 'cause I know it's not up to you, but sometimes I just have to shake my head.



- - - Updated - - -

cpa, thanks for the reply. BTW, Richfield is only 19.5 miles from Salina, so your guess was a bit high. I understand the desire to get the routes built quickly, but sometimes the long-term logic just escapes me, as bad placement (away from obvious junctions) just means that they'll have to build two or more closely-placed SCs eventually instead of one. Superior, MT is an example of this for eastbound traffic on I-90 traveling to Glacier NP; it's 14 miles past the turnoff at St. Regis, adding 28 miles and a bit under a half hour delay to the trip - westbound I-90 traffic will turn off at Missoula, so that's not an issue. I know they said they had capacity issues at St. Regis that would cause problems, but if that was the case, did they look at any of the small towns WEST of St. Regis before settling on Superior? Richfield compared to Salina makes for similar inconvenience (adding up to 39 miles roundtrip) - it's 184 miles from St. George to Salina, 222 RM uphill and 190 downhill in an S60 under ideal conditions, so most people will probably stop for a short charge in Beaver regardless. An 85 can make it downhill fairly easily, and uphill too with a bit of care.

An SC in Salina serves people going to/from north, south, east or west, while Richfield only conveniently serves people coming from the south going east or vice versa. Nephi/Beaver have similar problems (Beaver not so much, but a lot of people were expecting Cove Fort instead). Compare those locations to say Green River, which is well located for an offset intersection (they could have instead put a single SC at Crescent Junction and done without Green River and Moab, but Moab serves as a gateway SC to a national park, and I'm all in favor of them).

Not meaning to rag on you, 'cause I know it's not up to you, but sometimes I just have to shake my head.

Nahh, y'all aren't raggin' on me--just stating your position clearly and succinctly! They probably should have hired you and me to plot the locations for Superchargers across the Western United States back in 2012 to eliminate these puzzling locations! LOL

I agree with you that there will have to be "back-filled" locations to make traveling more sensible and efficient under normal traveling conditions. Tesla has opened redundant locations with Hawthorne, Redondo and Culver City; Rancho Cucamonga, Cabazon and Indio are about 90 miles or so apart; Rocklin SC at the service center is 4 miles from Roseville; there are rumors that Calabasas and Thousand Oaks are on the drawing board to complement Oxnard; Placerville and SLT were announced by the Sac EV group to be future sites for Superchargers, and Folsom is only about 25 miles from Placerville.

What this tells me is that Tesla is in the process of trying to refine charging options for us. Clustered Superchargers in metro areas and shorter spacing on highway corridors allow for trip planning software to determine the best and most efficient route to take, where to charge, and how much to charge. For example, when I leave Fresno and travel to Phoenix, the software could determine that the best charging arrangement for me on Tuesday morning would be to charge to X at Ft. Tejon and go all the way to Cabazon for 40 minutes, skip Indio and charge at Quartzsite. But on a Saturday afternoon, it might decide to have me charge to Y, charge at Rancho Cucamonga and Indio before Quartzsite because Cabazon will likely be overcrowded.

Finally (and no one to my best recollection has mentioned this) do we know for sure that all these current locations (particularly the older ones) are permanent? They may have been built with the intention of seeing how the supercharger network plays out over 5-7 years. Maybe Tesla signed shorter-term leases with options and have the choice of removing the pods and cement pads and transformer/charger stacks and using them elsewhere when they have a better idea of more efficient placement. By 2020 Tesla will have lots of data to determine better placement of Superchargers. And I would assume that the personalty at any given Supercharger location could be removed and reinstalled elsewhere with no significant effects.

Will be fun to see how this all plays out in the coming years!:biggrin:

 

[GRA]

Nahh, y'all aren't raggin' on me--just stating your position clearly and succinctly! They probably should have hired you and me to plot the locations for Superchargers across the Western United States back in 2012 to eliminate these puzzling locations!

LOL Yes, why didn't they hire us - I was available?:wink:<snippagio>

Finally (and no one to my best recollection has mentioned this) do we know for sure that all these current locations (particularly the older ones) are permanent? They may have been built with the intention of seeing how the supercharger network plays out over 5-7 years. Maybe Tesla signed shorter-term leases with options and have the choice of removing the pods and cement pads and transformer/charger stacks and using them elsewhere when they have a better idea of more efficient placement. By 2020 Tesla will have lots of data to determine better placement of Superchargers. And I would assume that the personalty at any given Supercharger location could be removed and reinstalled elsewhere with no significant effects.

Will be fun to see how this all plays out in the coming years!:biggrin:

Brilliant minds etc.:biggrin: I too have been wondering if they had some short-term leases and might move some of the SCs in not too many years. Still, while I've had a lot of criticism of some of their initial route/placement choices, especially the 'Musk Family Adventure to Nowhere', they haven't made anywhere near as many mistakes as the CHAdeMO deployment, most of which is so uselessly located that they might as well start over from scratch. Tesla at least seems to have had a guiding philosophy, whereas CHAdeMO seems to have been "We'll put them in wherever we can at the maximum convenience and lowest cost to us. Who cares if they're convenient for customers to use?"

 

[Biggs]

Hello Tesla Owners,

My name is Erik Biggs, General Manager of the Comfort Inn and Suites Tooele / Lake Point Utah, with 6 newly installed Supercharger Stations.

We are conviently located off I-80 and offer discounted rates to Tesla owners (mention LTESLA when making your reservations, or contact me personally at 801-250-3600 ex 155). It would be my pleasure to personally make your reservation.

If you are stopping by to simply charge up, please relax in our lobby and take advantage of our free WIFI, newspaper, coffee, tee and bathroom facilities (for Tesla owners and hotel guests). We also have a well stocked snack shop.

Regards,

Erik Biggs
General Manager

 

[stevezzzz]

Welcome to the forums, Erik, and thank you for hosting the Tooele Superchargers. I expect I'll pay you a visit this summer

 

[Denarius]

Thank you for hosting the supercharger!

 

[Cottonwood]

@GRA:

Let me offer you yet another thanks for hosting the Supercharger Site, and double thanks for welcoming the passing Tesla owners into your lobby. Hopefully, Tesla owner business will come your way. I like to stay at hotels that host Superchargers when I can.

 

[evp]

I charged at Tooele last week coming home from my factory tour, and someone (maybe it was you, Erik?) came by and personally welcomed me, invited me in to the lobby. Very friendly place. I'll definitely stop in next time, even given how close to the SLC charger it is.

- - - Updated - - -

I agree with you that there will have to be "back-filled" locations to make traveling more sensible and efficient under normal traveling conditions. (snip)

Will be fun to see how this all plays out in the coming years!:biggrin:

Another plausible theory is that they are thinking five years into the future when the fleet is ten times its present size, and the SC density needs to go up equally fast. At that point, places like Denver (which has an east-west and a north-south SC) might need 4 or 6 SCs to handle the traffic volume.

There are, after all, over 150,000 gas stations in the U.S. - maybe Tesla could start setting up SCs in abandoned gas stations, sell candy bars, wiper blades, and washer fluid, offer squeegees and paper towels; wouldn't THAT be ironic...

 

[Patrick W]

Those who use the Tooele (actually Lakepoint), Utah supercharger might like to know that the supercharger is powered by the solar panels on the roof on the Comfort Inn next door.

It's nice to be driving on sunshine.

 

[PLUS EV]

Ate at Del Taco while I charged here a couple days ago. Would not recommend the trek to the opposite side of the highway (there is also an Arby's over there). Even if you walk all the way back to the main intersection, there didn't appear to be a crosswalk there. So the only option was to play a real life game of human Frogger

 

[Patrick W]

Ate at Del Taco while I charged here a couple days ago. Would not recommend the trek to the opposite side of the highway (there is also an Arby's over there). Even if you walk all the way back to the main intersection, there didn't appear to be a crosswalk there. So the only option was to play a real life game of human Frogger

I always go to the Denny's. Closer and no busy road to cross.